Melanie Hartzog

City & State New York has recognized Melanie Hartzog, The Foundling’s President & CEO, in their 2023 Power of Diversity: Black 100 list. This annual list highlights the elected officials, business executives, labor chiefs, community advocates and other trailblazers in New York who are writing the next chapter of Black life in America.

As City & State notes, “I had run a nonprofit before,” Hartzog said last spring about her new role, “but the scale of The Foundling was a new challenge, and it really got me energized.”

Read more at City & State New York

In a new brief focusing on 5 exemplary NY-based organizations, Center for Health Care Strategies profiled our Home of Integrated Behavioral Health and its efforts promoting health equity and culturally competent care.

Read more on Center for Health Care Strategies

Reïna Batrony, our Vice President of Community-Based and Education Strategies, was honored in City & State’s 2022 Responsible 100! This list recognizes New York business, government, nonprofit and advocacy leaders who embody the values of social responsibility in their work.

As Reïna states, “Social responsibility means long-term viability and sustainability that benefits society. It guides individuals’ and organizations’ responsibility to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to build toward independence.”

Read more on City & State

In an op-ed published in NYN Media, Dr. Mel Schneiderman, Senior VP of the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection, writes about how New York’s corporal punishment ban is crucial to kids’ mental health.

“As pandemic-related disruptive behaviors continue in schools, mental health supports are the answer,” writes Dr. Schneiderman.

Read more at NYN Media

Pix 11 recently reported on diet culture, and how the holiday season often brings out mixed messages regarding food – which can be harmful to children and teenagers.  Dr. Ruth Gerson, our Senior Vice President of Mental Health Services, made an appearance to provide insight on the impact this could have on developing minds – and what parents should do to promote a healthy relationship with food during this time of year.

Watch the video:

Read more on Pix 11

A woman holding a girl next to a window

In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Shannon Ghramm-Smith – our Senior Vice President of Child Welfare and Behavioral Health – writes on the benefits of kinship foster care. Kinship care, where a family member serves as a foster parent,  often results in much better outcomes for children and families. While it’s underutilized and often inaccessible, Ghramm-Smith argues that Congress and state legislators should work to change this.

Read more at The Hill

 

Vital Brookdale

Pix 11 News reported on the opening of Vital Brookdale, our newest supportive housing complex. Watch the video report and meet Anthony McQueen, one of our residents.

Watch the video:

Read more on Pix 11

Vital Brookdale Ribbon Cutting

The New York State Office of Homes and Community Renewal released a press release on the opening of the Vital Brookdale apartment complex. This new building – located in Brownsville, Brooklyn – was created as part of the Vital Brookdale initiative in partnership with The Foundling.

As Melanie Hartzog, our President and CEO, stated in the press release: “We are grateful to the administration for their partnership in helping create Vital Brookdale, offering opportunity and promise for the people and communities that The New York Foundling serves. At The Foundling, we continue to look for impactful ways to uplift youth aging out of foster care and people with developmental disabilities. We see Vital Brookdale as one example of many more to come that demonstrates the mutual good that stems from providing opportunities for our neighbors to reach their full potential. It’s been a true joy to watch our residents’ confidence grow as a result of having the resources necessary to succeed on their paths to independence.”

Read the full press release here

 

SanjidaCBS

CBS reporter Hannah Kliger recently reported on ACS’s new College Choice program, which builds upon the work of The Foundling’s Fostering College Success Initiative to provide added support for students in foster care. The new program provides young people in foster care with additional funding that is applicable to any college or university in the nation – allowing them to pursue their college dreams – while continuing to provide access to tutors and career counselors from The Foundling.

In the report, she speaks to Sanjida Afruz, a current FCSI student, and Reïna Batrony, our VP of Community-Based & Education Strategies, about the benefits of this new program.

Watch the video below:

 

Read more on CBS New York

 

FCSI Graduates

Represent Magazine recently featured ACS’ College Choice program, a new initiative operating in partnership with The Foundling. Reporter Faith Ornstein, a high school senior in foster care, spoke with Bonnie Loughner, Assistant Vice President of our Fostering College Success Initiative program, and others on how this new program will help young people in foster care achieve their college dreams without being saddled with large amounts of debt.

Read more at Represent Magazine

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